Accesing internet via modem difficulties

[Werameli]

Hi guys! Recently I bought 4G modem on a popular russian marketplace due to networking problem in far places in my country. When I insert modem in USB port, modem start blinking and then indicates red light like it can’t connect to a network or don’t recognize system (but on marketplace said it supports Linux).

I tried archwiki solution but even lsusb don’t recognize it and mmcli don’t find it:

I think it’s a driver problem because on Windows and Mac modem work as intended. Where can I look for a unified driver for modems (unified i guess because it’s crappy chinese modem)

[Werameli]

UPD:

Somehow I managed to connect modem via usb-c and it works but from normal usb port it don’t. I don’t even know why is that happening

But mmcli still don’t see modem

[joekamprad]

best is always to open terminal and run journalctl -f while plugging usb in it will show some messages and may also errors hinting on the issue.

[Werameli]

Thanks for that tip! I found out that when I plug in modem in first port (for example) it works as intended, but when i plug it in second port which it supposed to be in, “journalctl -f” shows me absolutely nothing, like I didn’t plug anything in this port. But when I plug in flash drive it works as intended.

What can cause this problem and how do I even figure out what do I need to repair when even journal shows me nothing

[petsam]

@Werameli

What can cause this problem

It is possible that it needs power from the USB port, which probably is not enough from the normal (USB1-2) port, while USB-3 port can supply what is needed.
Maybe use a USB hub, so you can use the USB-3 port for other hardware as well.

[Werameli]

It might be that problem, because when I use usb hub, modem works as intended. But thanks for answer!